Brewer's: Sforza

The founder of the illustrious house which was so conspicuous in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, was the son of a day-labourer. His name was Giacomuzzo Attendolo, changed to Sforza from the following incident:—Being desirous of going to the wars, he consulted his hatchet thus: he flung it against a tree, saying, “If it sticks fast, I will go.” It did stick fast, and he enlisted. It was because he threw it with such amazing force that he was called Sforza, the Italian for force.

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